Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. Rickenbacker is the first known maker of electric guitars, with a steel guitar in 1932, and produces a range of electric guitars and basses.
Maton is an Australian musical instruments manufacturing company based in Box Hill, Melbourne. It was founded in 1946 by Bill May and his brother Reg. The name "Maton" came from the words "May Tone" and is pronounced May Tonne.
Warwick is a German bass guitar manufacturing company. Warwick basses were originally a premium brand offering a small range of models built from high quality and exotic tonewoods. The company also produces valve and FET amplifiers, speaker cabinets, bass guitar strings, and is the owner of the Framus trademark. Their headquarters and custom shops are located in Markneukirchen, Shanghai, and Nashville.
Danelectro is a brand of musical instruments and accessories that was founded in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1947. The company is known primarily for its string instruments that employed unique designs and manufacturing processes. The Danelectro company was sold to the Music Corporation of America (MCA) in 1966, moved to a much larger plant in Neptune City, New Jersey, and employed more than 500 people. Nevertheless, three years later Danelectro closed its plant.
Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in İzmir, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his father's business, Epaminondas Stathopoulos named the company "Epiphone" as a combination of his own nickname "Epi" and the suffix "-phone" in 1928, the same year it began making guitars. From the 1930s through to the early 1950s, Epiphone produced a range of both acoustic and (later) electrified archtop guitars that rivalled those produced by Gibson and were the instruments of choice of many professionals; a smaller range of flat-top guitars were also produced, some designations of which were later continued during the Gibson-owned era for the company.
The Ovation Guitar Company is a manufacturer of string instruments. Ovation primarily manufactures steel-string acoustic guitars and nylon-string guitars, often with pickups for electric amplification. In 2015, it became a subsidiary of Drum Workshop after being acquired from KMCMusicorp.
Washburn Guitars is an American brand and importer of guitars, mandolins, and other string instruments, originally established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. The Washburn name is controlled by U.S. Music Corp., a subsidiary of Canadian corporate group Exertis|JAM.
Framus is a German string instrument manufacturing company, that existed from 1946 until 1975. The Framus brand was revived in 1995 as part of Warwick GmbH & Co Music Equipment KG, in Markneukirchen, Germany. The company's has offices located in Markneukirchen, Shanghai and Nashville.
The Guild Guitar Company is a United States–based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music-store owner, and George Mann, a former executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company. The brand name currently exists as a brand under Córdoba Music Group. In February 2023, The Yamaha Guitar Group acquired Cordoba Music Group.
Alexandria "Sandi" Thom is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Banff, Scotland. She became widely known in 2006 after her debut single, "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker ", topped the UK Singles Chart in June of that year, as well as in Australia and Ireland. The single became the biggest-selling single of 2006 in Australia, where it spent ten weeks at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart.
Cort Guitars is a South Korean guitar manufacturing company located in Seoul. The company is one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produces instruments for many other companies. It also has factories in Indonesia and China.
Alvarez is a guitar brand founded in 1965 by the owner and distributor St. Louis Music. Alvarez manufactures steel-strings, classical guitars, ukuleles and, for a time, solid and hollow-body electric guitars and basses.
Kay Musical Instrument Company is an American musical instrument manufacturer established in 1931 by namesake Henry "Kay" Kuhrmeyer and based in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed when Kuhrmeyer bought out his financial backers in the instrument manufacturer Stromberg-Voisinet. They produced guitars, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles and were known for their use of lamination in the construction of arched top instruments.
Aria Guitars Co. is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. The company, sited in the city of Nagoya, produces electric, acoustic and classical guitars, electric basses and ukuleles through its brands Laule'A, Mojo Gig Bags, Fiesta, José Antonio, Pignose and Kelii.
FUJIGEN is a Japanese musical instrument manufacturing company based in Matsumoto, Nagano. The company was formerly known as Fuji Gengakki Seizō, and is named after Japan's iconic Mount Fuji. FUJIGEN does OEM guitar manufacturing for well-known guitar brands, and they manufacture their own guitars under the brand FGN.
Freshman Guitars is a Scottish manufacturing company founded in 2002 by Sean Kelly, The company is currently part of Access All Areas Distribution, based in East Kilbride.
Gibson, Inc. is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Recording King is a musical instruments brand currently owned by The Music Link Corporation, based in Hayward, California, which also produces other musical instrument lines.
Dawsons Music & Sound, often referred to as Dawsons or Dawsons Music, was a musical instrument and consumer audio retailer with headquarters based in Haydock, Merseyside, UK.
D'Angelico Guitars of America is an American musical instrument manufacturer based in Manhattan, New York. The brand was initially founded by master luthier John D'Angelico in 1932, in Manhattan's Little Italy. In 1999, Steve Pisani, John Ferolito Jr., and Brenden Cohen purchased the D'Angelico Guitars trademark. Cohen serves as the brand's president and CEO. Original D'Angelico guitars are collector's items and have been used by musicians including Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Drake Bell, Bucky Pizzarelli, Chet Atkins, and Chuck Wayne. The D'Angelico Mel Bay New Yorker model was featured on the cover of the Mel Bay Publications' guitar method books for decades.
